Living with AMD

Living with AMD

If you have age-related macular degeneration, you're not alone. Nearly 2.1 million Americans aged 50 and older have age-related macular degeneration. There is much you can do to prevent vision loss from AMD and maintain your independence and quality of life while living with the disease.

Check Your Vision with the Amsler Grid

If you have age-related macular degeneration, you must check the central vision in each of your eyes separately every day. If you notice any changes such as having trouble reading, or seeing straight lines that appear wavy, tell your eye doctor right away.

Take Care of Yourself

Take care of yourself, physically and emotionally. Exercise, a healthy diet and regular eye care are an important part of staying healthy, whether or not you have AMD.

The emotional effects of AMD can be as serious as vision loss. Feelings of helplessness, anger, and depression are common when dealing with macular degeneration, so be sure to pay attention to your emotional health as well as your physical health.

AMD and Vision Loss

There are many things you can do to make your daily life easier even if you have lost much of your sight to AMD.

Special training, called vision rehabilitation, can give you skills for living with vision loss.

Low vision aids are tools that can help you if you have vision loss. Some of these tools are:

magnifying lenses or special glasses

closed-circuit TVs

computers with large screens

bright lamps, large-print books and magazines

Stay positive about the challenges of living with low vision. You may need to develop new skills for daily living. Learn as much as you can about resources and rehabilitation services that are available.

It’s common to feel anger, grief and depression when you have vision loss. Losing even part of your vision can be devastating. But stay determined and be persistent. You can make the most of your remaining vision. Know that much of what has to be done to keep your independence and quality of life must be done by you.

GuideMe for Age-related Macular Degeneration

Developed by Prevent Blindness, the GuideMe program is a free resource that will ask a few questions about you and your AMD diagnosis. We’ll use your answers to create a customized guide with helpful information, tips, resources and steps you can take to be proactive about protecting your vision and maintaining your quality of life and independence.